Bulgaria votes to elect its new President

According to the Directorate General of Civil Registration and Administrative Services with the Bulgarian Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, eligible voters for the 2016 presidential elections number 6,834,278. A total of 21 candidates are running for the President’s office. They cut across the political spectrum: left, right, centrist and nationalist. Incumbent President, Rosen Plevneliev, said as early as on May 20, 2016 that he will not seek re-election.

The polls opened at 7:00 a.m. and will close at 8:00 p.m. By exception, if voters are still waiting outside the polling site at 8:00 p.m., voting may continue until 9:00 p.m. Balloting will take place in 12,418 voting sections in Bulgaria (excluding those at hospitals and prisons), grouped in 7,062 polling sites, and 325 sections abroad in 71 countries (53 in the UK and 35 each in the US and Turkey). For the first time in any elections in Bulgaria, voting on November 6 is compulsory, according to BTA.